Tuesday, September 22, 2009

R41 vs Tochigi SC

Tochigi SC 2-1 FC Gifu (ht 1-0)

Last saturday Gifu played pretty average but still managed a 3-1 win over Mito. Today's game they played even worse and were rewarded with a 2-1 loss to bottom placed Tochigi. Passes were missed, shots went astray and in general timing was a shambles. After Gifu went 2-0 down, they did manage to peg one back through Shimada, and it looked like they might be in for an unlikely victory, but Tochigi held the ball well, and Gifu as a result suffered their first loss to Tochigi in the J2. One major thing that has been plaguing FC Gifu this year is Manager Matsunaga's timing for replacements. Almost always way to late. In games like today when the team wasn't playing well he should have made changes earlier to change the tempo of things. While he did make the changes after 70 minutes today and the team did climb back and score a goal, it was ultimately too late. If it had been 5 or 10 minutes earlier it could have changed the game.But it's not only when we're losing that his substitution is slow. When we are winning games comfortably and there are players who could do with some good game time and experience, whilst also resting some of the starting players, his substitution is slow and most players only come off the bench for a matter of minutes....Anyway, would be nice if this could change at some stage...

Next game, back at home vs Ventforet Kofu who Gifu has never beaten.Gambare boys! Only 10 games left!!